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Truck Norris
11-11-2014, 02:24 AM
Hey guys. The stock headlight on my 185s was destroyed so i got one like this
http://http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HKUR3FS/ref=mp_s_a_1_50?qid=1415685695&sr=8-50&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HKUR3FS/ref=mp_s_a_1_50?qid=1415685695&sr=8-50&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70) it has 2 wires a red and a black. The oem light has 3, a green one that something else goes to, a blue one and a white one.

I hooked my light up by putting the red wire to the green and the black to the blue. The light works like this at idle. Turning the switch to off turns off the light and hi and lo turn it on but it stays the same brightness. The problem im having is when i give it gas the light fades. The more i rev it up the dimmer it gets until it goes out. It lights right back up when i let off the gas. This happens both in neutral and driving. Any ideas?

Truck Norris
11-11-2014, 01:13 PM
Anybody...?

whitneysandel
11-11-2014, 01:43 PM
well in most cases the green is the ground. i would try to put that one somewhere on the trike. the others should be a hot and a neutral. try doing it that way and let me know what happens.

whitneysandel
11-11-2014, 01:46 PM
And i do not believe LED lights have a dim. I could also be wrong on this.

Hasteranger
11-11-2014, 03:37 PM
Green is probably ground so wire that to black on the light, and white and blue are high beam low beam. The led light doesn't have hi or low it is just on or off. So you should be able to wire them both in together on the red lead, unless back feeds the circuits on your bike. Shouldn't be an issue. But it won't dim, it will just stay on.

As for why it gets dimmer as you rev, your stator may be weak and the coil is using more power at high revs? Not sure. Do you have a digital multi meter? It's really best to test circuits before blindly wiring them and hoping for the best.

Flyingw
11-11-2014, 04:05 PM
Green is always ground so hook the black wire from the light to green. The red wire on the light goes to either white or blue depending on which switch position you use. The LED light does not have high/low beams so either white or blue is to be used. Right now your light is hooked up reverse polarity so switch those wires around and see what you get.

Truck Norris
11-11-2014, 10:22 PM
Thanks for all the replies guys. This is a great site. Im new to 3wheelers and apreciate you guys helping me. I got my 185s about 2 months ago and recently just git my girlfriend one too.

I wired the black from the light to the green on the trike and put the blue and white off the trike to the red from the light. The light now works great at idle on hi or lo and the off switch turns it off. But it still dims as i rev it up until it goes out. Then when i let off it gets brighter as it revs down. Any ideas what could be causing this???? Ill look into anything

Hasteranger when you say the stator could be week are you referring to the black box or the thing under the cover that says cdi?

Thanks guys

Flyingw
11-11-2014, 10:26 PM
To tell you the truth, I'm surprised the light works at all. The electrical system on the 185 is an AC system. The light I'm sure is DC. Normally a DC light on an AC system doesn't work.

Hasteranger
11-11-2014, 11:21 PM
I have never experienced an alternating current system at the headlight on any piece of gasoline driven equipment including mopeds and atvs and you are correct, if it was indeed ac it's extremely unlikely the light would work at all, but then again he also said it worked with the polarity reversed before, if I'm not mistaken. A check with a multimeter would be a good way to confirm if it's ac or if it has a rectifier somewhere. Harbor freight will give you a free multimeter , Walmart has one for under ten bucks as does every other hardware store. They are pretty easy to use and I'd advise picking one up.

Here is an article I found about stators, alternating current, and rectifiers. Good read through will cover the basics and get you up to speed on how things work.http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/technical-articles/motorcycle-stators

Truck Norris
11-12-2014, 12:02 AM
Yes the light did work whem i had the wires backwards. I just hooked up a really old kc light i have to the trike and it gets brighter as i rev it. Are kc lights ac?

Flyingw
11-12-2014, 12:19 AM
Yes, incandescent lights can be AC or DC. If the LED light is getting dimmer as you rev it, its possible the voltage is going outside of the working voltage range of the light. Typically the LED lights work in the 12-36 volt range. Put a meter on the light wires and see what the voltage is at idle and at high rev.

Truck Norris
11-12-2014, 12:35 AM
Haha you guys sure are persistant about me getting a meter. I will get one and see what it tells me and get back to you guys. Thanks for all of your help.

Flyingw
11-12-2014, 01:16 AM
A good meter is a necessary tool for troubleshooting electrical issues. When you look for a meter, look for one that has auto ranging. Makes use simple not having to worry about the right range or scale.

jb2wheels
11-12-2014, 03:20 PM
That light should work fine on the AC lighting system. Should probably have a regulator but should work fine.

I wonder if the LED light reacts weirdly to over-voltage? When you rev the trike, the voltage goes to like 25V AC since the 185s is unregulated. Just a theory.

Normally I would think dimming at rev = bad stator.

On a side note, I've had good luck running LEDs on AC systems.
I run a pair of those 18W lights (Kawell 18W, 1 spot, 1 flood) on my 350X and 250R along with the stock headlights. These trikes have lots of lighting coil! They are also AC lighting coils, but come with a regulator from the factory.
I've also run a 27W LED on the front of a TRX 70. I added a 2 wire regulator to keep from over-volting the LED.
I run a 72W LED on the front of my Tecate off the stock light coil, also with a 2-wire "dirt bike" regulator although I think he regulator actually came off an old snowmobile.

They all flicker a little at idle only.

Also a side note - the ignition and lighting systems are completely independent. You can burn up one and the other should be fine.

Hasteranger
11-12-2014, 11:07 PM
I am very surprised to hear that the led lights work off ac. I would have thought the way they drawn power through their circuit boards that they would not operate on ac. So I learned some new stuff. It is very possible that the led light only works within a certain voltage range. I have several led lights on some of my things and some are dim at low voltage and some just won't light below a certain voltage. So if they have under voltage protection they likely have it over too.

Truck Norris
11-19-2014, 09:12 PM
I checked with a meter. At idle the trike puts out around 11.8 ac amps. When i rev it up the amps go way up. Into the 50s. The light gets a little brighter from 11.8 to 14 but after that it dims.
So the good news is i thing my stators fine.
Now im in the market for a regulator that keeps it around 12 volts? Any idea where to find something like this? I dont rally know what to look for

jb2wheels
11-20-2014, 02:12 PM
http://www.motosport.com/dirtbike/MSR-VOLTAGE-REGULATOR

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/7315/i/msr-voltage-regulator

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221288047344?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Any of those will do the trick on an AC system.

Truck Norris
11-20-2014, 08:26 PM
How do those work?

jb2wheels
11-20-2014, 10:17 PM
Technically, they're a shunt (I learnt that from Flying W - ME and AE stuck but EE slipped off me like teflon). The feed anything over 12V to ground. You connect one wire to ground and on to the lighting source wire coming off the stator.

http://tboltusa.com/store/images/dirt-bike-type.png

SSLS1
11-30-2014, 11:26 PM
Like mentioned above you will need a two wire voltage regulator inline with your lighting coil and your lights. I recently added lights to my ATC 70 (Piranha 12v motor) and w/o the regulator measured close to 45v AC when revving the engine. With the regulator I get max 13v DC voltage which works great for my headlight and LED taillight.

205327
This is the regulator I'm using. It has an adjustable output pot on it so you can limit the max voltage from 12-14v depending on the lighting you are using.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FSP3JQ?ie=UTF8&at=&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links